Kahui's busting to play

All Black star Richard Kahui is an outside chance to return to competitive rugby for Waikato this weekend.

If he does make it on to the field in the ITM Cup against North Harbour at Albany on Saturday night he will probably join another long-term injury casualty, prop Ben May, in making a return.

Kahui has been sidelined since suffering a small fracture of his right shoulder socket in the opening Tri-Nations victory over the Springboks at Eden Park on July 10. That was after returning from a sternoclavicular/rib problem towards the end of the Super 14.

Having missed most of last year with reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder it was a relief to Kahui to find out just over a month ago he would not need surgery on the latest injury, but the injury has lingered longer than expected.

"It's been pretty slow.

"They gave it a six-week window, then it just kept going and didn't get right so it has been dragging on.

"But it's now come good really quickly so I'm pretty eager to get back on the field and play."

It was now a matter of trying to get through contact sessions at training and seeing how he recovered from them for the next three or four days.

"That will indicate whether I will play this week, next week or in the next few weeks," he said.

Kahui is into his second week of contact training and has come through well so far.

"But up until now I haven't really had that sort of uncontrolled contact like in a game scenario where you get hit from all different angles.

"Tonight we've got a pretty physical session so it will be a pretty good indicator of where I'm at," Kahui said yesterday.

Kahui said he had been liaising closely with both the All Blacks and Waikato medical staff.

"The thing from them is that there is no real reason to rush back and I think the best thing for me is to make sure I come back when I am ready and not too early and do something more serious.

"Right now I feel pretty good but I haven't really done any [meaningful] contact and it's not really the contact but how you feel the next day, so if I can get through training and I felt really good the next day I'd possibly make myself available for selection but it's pretty hard to call right now.

"I can't wait [to play again] because it's been too long but it's been good to watch the ABs truck along really well.

"The team environment here is really good too so to play for Waikato in the next few weeks is a big driving force for me."

Waikato backs coach Scott McLeod said training yesterday had been boosted not only by the presence of Kahui and May, who played a full game for Waikato Development last weekend, but also Stephen Donald while there was even a cameo appearance from injured All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu.

"Stephen's just integrating back in and is still a little way off yet," McLeod said.

"But it's fantastic to have them all back in training. They lift the communication in terms of training, skill level and experience.

"All the young guys feed off that.

"It's not just what they do it's just them being there really lifts everyone."

The one negative injury note persists with midfield back Jackson Willison, who again did not train due to his hamstring injury suffered in the season-opener five weeks ago and was likely to be out for another week or two.

- © Fairfax NZ News